By Moonlight
by blackpearl.fantasy
Summary: I loved her, but she never came back. Oneshot, Jack's POV, Kind of Sparrabeth... Please R&R! I added another oneshot in Lizzie's POV, because, well, just because. :
1. Jack

_"Stay," I begged her. "Stay with me." But she shook her head regretfully._

_"I can't." The rain had started to fall, and her face was flecked with drops. _

_"You don't have to leave," I said quietly, searching her face. "You could come with me."_

_"One day, perhaps." She attempted to smile a small, weak smile. _

_"Please," I said desperately. I looked deep into her eyes, and they were full of sadness and grief, as is she were losing something and was trying to hold on._

_"Don't worry," she said gently. "I'll come back. I'll come by moonlight."_

_"Don't go…" I said. "Elizabeth, I love you." I held her close. She leaned in, and the tip of her long braid brushed my face just as she was removing the ribbon that kept it in place. Her hair fell around us like a waterfall, protecting us from the world. The kiss was loving and gentle, but I felt the pain and sorrow mixed in. _

_"I'll come back."_

_"Elizabeth." I stared at her with longing._

_"Don't go too far," she whispered._

_"But I might have to leave forever—they're looking for me. I may never see you again. "_

_"Don't. Not yet… Wait until I come. I'll come back."_

_"Promise?" I asked softly. There was no other choice, but still I hated the decision. I pulled her in a tight, mournful embrace and wished I never had to let her go._

_"I promise. One day, all right?" _

_I stood still as she gently pulled away. _

_"Goodbye, Jack. I love you. I will always love you."_

"_Elizabeth," I said again, taking her hand. She looked at me, tears sparkling in her eyes._

"_Jack, I'm sorry," she whispered. "Goodbye." I let go of her hand miserably, staring at the dull ground._

"_Goodbye." I looked up at her again, staring desperately into her beautiful eyes, feeling my throat close in any other words there might have been._

"_Don't go too far," she said. "Don't leave yet—wait for me to return. I'll come back. I'll find you by moonlight."_

_She started to walk away slowly, up the road towards the hill. I heard the distant sound of horses drawing a carriage on the other side. I watched the figure of Elizabeth becoming smaller and smaller as she grew farther and farther away from me. I stood helplessly in the gloomy weather, not knowing whether it was rain or tears that soaked my face, and watched Elizabeth start to trudge up the hill, her hair swirling around her in the cold, bitter wind. Then, at the crest of the hill, just as she was about to disappear down the other side, I saw her turn around and call back to me. _

"_Wait for me!"_

_And she was gone._

* * *

I stood in the darkness, still and silent. 

The memories haunted me. In the daytime I could drive them away with the duties of a captain, but they came at night, by moonlight. They came with the flood of silver light that washed over me and the _Pearl_ when the clouds parted.

I loved her, but she never came back. I remembered, and as I remembered, I could see it all before me--her shining eyes, her slender form, the wave of her hair in the wind. I closed my eyes and I could hear her charming voice and uplifting laughter, and when I opened my eyes again she stood before me, at the bow where she so often stood.

"Elizabeth," I whispered, but she was fading away--yet another illusion that I had to watch disappear.

_She said she would come by moonlight. She said to wait..._

I had waited. I had waited for her for months--perhaps even a year already. I didn't count; it didn't matter; every day was a dull passing of time without her.

Above me, the loose sails flapped a little in the ghostly whisper of a breeze, tattered and worn from years of flying taut in the wind.

_She said she loved me. _

There was no moonlight tonight. The night before the waning crescent had been the faintest and most delicate of silver curves; tonight there was nothing. Perhaps the next day there would be a new moon, but there was no moonlight tonight.

_She said not to go too far. _

I hadn't gone too far, and every so often I circled close to Port Royal, in a desperately hopeful way. It was dangerous, I knew, to be sailing so close, seeing as the Royal Guard were still on the lookout for me, but love knew no boundaries.

There weren't even stars tonight, as if they had gone to search for their lunar companion.

Every day her absence pierced into me like a dagger, and I would have happily given up the ship to see her again--to hold her, to kiss her, to stare into her eyes. For weeks--months, perhaps--I stood at the helm, whether it be in moonlight or darkness, waiting for her, letting the terrible, devastasting pain sink into me. I had lost almost all hope, after having bitter disappointment, in seeing her again, but still I waited--because she had asked, and I would wait for eternity.

_She said she would come back. _

* * *

Pain was like nothing else in the world. It ate through me, gnawed at my emotions, brought forth the most wretched feelings, until there was nothing left for it. I felt nothing now--or almost nothing. 

At first there was only sorrow and grief. _She's gone_. There were no other thoughts for a long time. I felt as if I had been breathing deeply perfect air, and all of a sudden it was all gone and there was only the thinnest air to sustain my lungs. And it hurt.

After a while I couldn't tell whether or not I was angry. She had given me a taste of something--the richest, sweetest flavor, the feelings and desires of a human. She had taught me how to feel, how to love, how to laugh--she had let me feel all the reasons to be _living... _and she had torn it away. But I knew she hadn't wanted to leave. It had been for Will--even though they both knew she no longer loved him, even though they both knew the wound was sapping away the rest of his life.

But still I stood every evening to watch the moon rise. It was always there--except perhaps when the raining clouds covered it, or the last of the waning crescent was gone, but I knew it still had to be there, somewhere in the sky. How steadfast and faithful it was--and unlike people... would it really stay there forever? Would it be there when she came back? _Would_ she come back?

_She promised. _

_One day. _

I looked up into the sky. It had rained in the afternoon, and the gloomy grey clouds were parting. I watched for the moon. Yes, it was there, it was a full moon. The great silver orb hung in the sky, emitting a pearly white, incandescent light, turning the ancient wood, the ropes, even the ebony sails to a glowing grey. And with this moonlight I imagined again--I imagined sailing into Tortuga and finding another ship, just arrived. And perhaps, _perhaps_, it carried her. With this moonlight came the promise of happiness again, an idyllic life like the one I lived before I met her, simple and beautiful.

Perhaps, on another moonlit night like this one.

_She said she loved me. _

_She said to wait for her. _

_She said she would find me by moonlight. _

_She said she would come back. _


	2. Elizabeth

**A/N: Hello readers. All my friends were telling me to make another chappie, so I guess I'll do that. Unfortunately, two chapters is it--it's going to no more than a two-shot. I did like the effect of a one-shot, but this one's in Elizabeth's POV. And a lot shorter. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Disney owns PotC**

* * *

I promised him. 

I promised that I would come back.

I could still remember every detail of that last day. I could remember his warm breath on my face, the long, memorable kiss, the final embrace. I remembered pulling away from him with a feeling of wretched betrayal. Pulling away to go with Will, to live with a man I no longer loved.

He had wanted another chance. He had wanted an oppurtunity to live the rest of his flickering days with me. We both knew I did not love him anymore. We both knew his wound was tugging more of his life away day by day.

He had pleaded for me to return to Port Royal with him... and try as I might, I couldn't deny his plea. For I knew that he had always wanted the best for me, he had almost always been there to help me--the least I could do was be by his side when it ended. For I knew that long ago, once upon a time, I _had_ loved him. I had loved him once. That time seemed so long ago, like a faint childhood memory fading into the past.

Had I loved him once? I could hardly remember ever feeling a sense of joy at seeing him. All I could remember now was the charming smile of the _Pearl's_ captain, the roguish look on his face as he took yet another swig of rum.

I did not love Will. I knew I would never love Will again. I had loved Jack for as long as I could remember feeling at home on the _Pearl_. Perhaps I had loved him ever since he had saved me that day, long ago in Port Royal, or when I had chained him to the mast in a terrible, selfish way to flee. But he had forgiven me. I had sailed past numerous dangers, to World's End to save him.

And I had disappointed him.

The feeling was terrible beyond belief. I lived in torment for the first few weeks, thinking about how much hurt I could see in Jack's eyes during the mournful farewell. I could only promise him of my return, by the silver light of the moon at night. I knew I would go. I would go one day, I would go back to the wonderful dream-like life of rum and ships and listening to the wind in the sails.

I would go back, no matter what it took. I had promised. Jack had said I was a woman of my word, and I would be one. For him. For us.

_Stay with me_, he had said, and I had told him one day, knowing it could be months or years before I saw him again.

It had been nine months. Nine torturous, painful months before I laid a last kiss on the grave of the man I no longer loved.

_I'm sorry, Will. _

And I left.

I had asked him not to leave the Caribbean forever. I had asked him to wait for me, and he had sworn to do so.

I knew he would wait. I hoped he knew I would return. For now I was coming back to him, back to the life I had waited too long for.

* * *

I would start in Tortuga. I would search every road and alley, every bar and tavern. I would sail the entire Caribbean sea until I found him.

I had promised to come back. He had promised to wait. I would find him, and by moonlight, I would come back.


End file.
